The recipe to build a football stadium that the NFL or a major university would consider acceptable neatly fits on one small index card.

The ingredients are around $1billion of capital, a city with deep pockets and no oversight, an environmentally uncomplicated site, a large piece of land and a generous banker.

If successful, it feeds 85,000 into that city every fall Saturday or Sunday, as well as boosting a city’s psychological and financial needs.

But it’s daunting task for any city – much less Long Beach – to accommodate those requirements. It’s a massive task for even a veteran developer like Jeff Klein, who purchased the Queen Mary project and has promoted the idea of a football stadium next to the ship for an NFL team or USC. It’s complicated for any city that has a unique environment and commissions determined to protect it.

In other words, it’s about as difficult as putting a man on Mars, finding alternative fuel sources before the ice cap melts, or herding the tabloid paparazzi stalking celebrities.

The vision many share regarding a football stadium is earnest, but the reality is blinding. In order of the size of the obstacle, here are the issues that even the biggest football fan would admit are sobering.

When it comes to the NFL, a civic investment is a virtual requirement. The league adopted this policy after negotiations for stadium upgrades in various cities were thwarted or delayed by local politicians who were landlords and not investors in the league.

It’s no coincidence that the cities in question were Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis, Houston and – ta da! – Los Angeles. The Colts, Browns, Cardinals, Oilers, Rams and Raiders all fled. It’s the league’s heavy-handed belief that if a city is invested, it will work with the owner and league and not against it.

The problem is that the size of that investment is massive and usually comes at taxpayer expense. The Indianapolis Colts are putting in less than 10percent of the cost of their new stadium, which is opening next season. As flush as Jerry Jones is, the Cowboys owner will get $325 million in sales tax money for his new $1 billion stadium in Dallas.

A major university wouldn’t necessarily have the same demands, but the model being discussed – USC partnering with developer Klein – is new, and USC would definitely want a sign of investment from the city.

Long Beach officials are quite circumspect about this. There is no public money available beyond infrastructure needs, the kind that provides a greater benefit to the city beyond a football stadium.

“A stadium and team here would certainly be a positive for the city, but you also have to look coldly at the idea,” Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said. “The NFL always wants some kind of subsidy, and we’re not in a position to talk about that.

“I was in the private sector for a long time and have seen a lot of these deals. I don’t want to get in a situation like Irwindale. The last thing you want to do is get into something just because it sounds good. And we’re talking in the dark here about a very complex deal.”

In 1987, the Raiders began looking for alternatives to the Coliseum and essentially hornswoggled the suburb of Irwindale. City officials met with Al Davis, who said he would seriously consider a proposal to build a stadium in a rock quarry as long as he received a $10million non-refundable deposit.

Irwindale paid the $10 million. County officials challenged the deal virtually overnight, and the proposal died quicker than you can punt a football. Davis kept the $10 million and it took more than a decade for the city to overcome the loss.

“I was working in Paramount at that time and we met with the Raiders just like Irwindale,” Long Beach City Manager Pat West said. “They wanted the same $10 million deposit, and we said thanks and walked away.

“That was a watershed moment for any city in America regarding doing business with a sports team. They are there to make money at your expense. I don’t think there’s any (public money) number that is tolerable in Long Beach.

“It’s like the people who say `Tear down the Breakwater.’ It’s a wonderful idea. You don’t want to say you can’t do it, but financially, we can’t do it.”

Klein says he has no intention to ask the city for anything beyond infrastructure development. But that doesn’t mean a potential tenant wouldn’t ask.

“The city has been great to work with, terrific,” Klein said. “We understand they don’t have the money to invest. Whatever we come up with, unless the city is a partner and satisfied, nothing will succeed. All we’d be looking for is grant money to help the infrastructure.”

When the Rams and Raiders fled Los Angeles after the 1994 season, it was estimated a new stadium in town would cost $250 million to build. That sounds quaint more than a decade later, when most new stadiums cost upwards of $700million.

Arizona was able to build the University of Phoenix stadium, site of Sunday’s Super Bowl, for $455 million. The final cost of the new stadium in New York for the Giants and Jets may top $1.7 billion. Proposals for new stadiums in San Diego and SanFrancisco are in excess of $800 million.

Klein’s company has been involved in several multimillion deals over the years, but finding investors for retail and residential properties is easier. Revenue flow is predictable and there aren’t as many people looking to share revenue streams.

An existing NFL team would want to secure as much of the revenue as possible for the privilege of joining the fraternity. A foundation partner like USC – which proposed controlling the Coliseum’s operation in exchange for $100 million in renovations – would also want to be satisfied first and foremost.

“We’ve been involved in many kinds of developments,” Klein said of his company. “Resorts, retail, office, industry. We’ve been much more opportunity driven than product driven.

“There are creative ways to finance a stadium, and we have serious (investors) who would participate. We’re looking at one idea that includes a hotel and retail center with the stadium. That drives up the price but offers other financial resources.”

The process of getting an approved Environmental Impact Report can often take more than a year.

If the site in question requires more than a clearing of the land, the preparation process can take even longer.

The proposal to put a stadium on a landfill in Carson in 1998 was madly hyped, even though no EIR had been secured for the site. There were concerns about the toxicity of the land beneath the landfill.

The Queen Mary site was also built on landfill, and a new stadium might require an extra layer of land atop that which exists to handle the size of a stadium.

There would also have to be no effect on the nearby Tidelands, too, which are operated and protected by the state, and a report would also have to take into account the financial impact on the nearby docks.

“It would be an engineering feat,” Suzanne Fricke, the Assistant City Manager who handles EIR details, said. “The land is fill for the most part, so in order to build a stadium (of considerable size), the costs could be astronomical. It can be done, it would just be very expensive.

“I don’t think Long Beach is any more complicated than LosAngeles, San Diego or San Francisco when it comes to environmental complications. But we do have a number of limitations with the Tidelands and Coastal Commission.”

The word is bandied about lightly, but it can be daunting. In Long Beach’s case, infrastructure would include prepping the boundaries of the site and increasing road access points into the city, most notably the end of the Long Beach Freeway (710), the main artery into the city, docks and shoreline.

The city has developed ample downtown parking to accommodate the new Convention Center, Pike and Pine Street developments, but more would likely be needed to handle the kind of crowds that attend football games.

“The major challenge is handling event traffic with all of the port traffic we have. The Long Beach Freeway is used 24/7,” West said. “That’s a major challenge. It can be done, though, because there is a need (beyond a stadium).”

“The land is there and we can control the development,” Frick said. “As long as no one wants a subsidy from the city, we’re given the time to work through the process, and the community supports it, great, we’re there.”

The actual Queen Mary site, 65 acres that includes some waterways, is tiny compared to the lots that accommodate NFL stadiums. The league loves the tailgate mentality. But some stadiums are built into smaller corners of downtown areas with ample off-site parking.

At first glance, the site seems too small. There’s enough land across the bay to envision a tailgate area, but that would require a strong sales pitch to the NFL or a university.

Klein views it from a different perspective, looking at the entire stadium, Pike, Convention Center and downtown as one large “community for football games.”

“I think there are opportunities across the bay to handle this,” Klein said. “The entire idea looks at a stadium as part of that community which ties in everything that’s already there. I view it as a positive.”

The project for the Jets and Giants is being financed through three of the largest firms in the nation – Citicorp, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. It helps considerably to have a large local banking institution to help with financing.

Long Beach’s largest bank is Farmer’s and Merchants, and International City Bank is growing, but they’re not Citicorp. The Chargers and 49ers both were unable to find financing for their recent proposals, indicative of California’s economic atmosphere.

Several NFL projects in Los Angeles had name investors attached – Eli Broad, Ron Burkle – but they weren’t willing to put up much of their own capital to fund the projects. Only Ed Roski, who was the principal in the 1998 New Coliseum project and now wants to build a stadium on land in the City of Industry, was willing to put his own money on the table.

A proposed 1990 privatization of the Coliseum fell apart because the company, Spectacor, couldn’t secure financing for renovations. Their attempts to secure financing through Private Seat License and luxury suite deposits also fizzled.

The NFL’s history here is such that the league might have to arrange financing from its sources rather than rely on the good nature of L.A. institutions. Considering the league has ostensibly rejected the region five times – the departure of the Rams and Raiders, and failed bids in 1995, 1998 and 2006 – you’d have a better chance getting funding for a bridge to Catalina.

As far as economists are concerned, building a stadium does not provide any economic growth to a community. Cities with no other pro teams have been able to show a positive factor – consider Green Bay, Carolina and Jacksonville – but the fan-owned Packers are an exception to all rules and the newlywed blush has worn off in both Carolina and Jacksonville.

Economists say all a professional team does is re-direct discretionary spending. The person who buys a season ticket for an NFL team then spends less on other entertainment.

Bringing people into the city from other areas can cause a sales bump, but you’re still talking about 10 or so games a season.

The ticket buyer for an NFL or college team also isn’t necessarily going to buy tickets for other events held in the venue either.

“There’s no evidence that new facilities bring economic growth to an area,” said noted Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist, who has written several books on the folly of public investment. “The spending that goes into a stadium is substitution spending. It doesn’t get back to the local economy. There really is no economic benefit.”

Klein says a stadium here would be a landmark attraction that would also be used for more than just eight to 10 football games. He envisions bringing international soccer, concerts and other events to the stadium.

“Jim Ruth is my mentor, and he was city manager in Anaheim when the Rams left,” West said. “I called him to bemoan losing the Rams, and he said, `Pat my boy, we make more money on tractor pulls.’

“But the concepts are different. Even if it doesn’t bring in dollars, you’ve got your `there’ there. We are looking for another wonderful anchor for downtown, whether it’s a stadium or something else. Anything that fills hotels, keeps restaurants busy, and sends people to the Pike, 2nd Street and Bixby Knolls.”

“Whatever we do will be a complex deal,” said Mayor Foster. “And whatever we do has to make sense for the city.”

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